//------------------------------//
// The Views of Ponyville 
// Story: The Masked Human of Ponyville 
// by John Rim 
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Twilight walked around the town with the baby in the carrier, she was trying to think of a name for it and trying to find where to get baby food. “Maybe Pinkie Pie would know where to get some, or maybe the Cakes. What do you think?” She asked him, he giggled and looked around at all of the happy things around him, the houses, the trees, even the ground, he loved all of it it seemed. “Let’s go there first then, who knows, they might have some that we can use.” She said smiling, she was so happy to have a child to watch and care for. She had babysitted before, but that was nothing to having her very own child. The baby continued to giggle at everything and when he saw Sugarcube corner he gave a happy laugh. “Are you excited to go inside?” She asked with a small laugh of her own. They entered the brightly lit building which made Twilight cover her eyes, but the baby just opened his wider. “Is anyone there?” she asked after she adjusted to the sudden change in light.
“Hi Twilight!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she came around a corner. “I didn’t expect for you to back this soon!” She said happily while bouncing. She seemed to not notice the baby yet. “So what did you need that baby carrier for-” She started, but stopped with a gasp. “Twilight, what is that?!?” She asked, pointing her hoof at the human baby, who was still absorbing everything around him. “Why is it wearing a mask?” She asked.
“This is a human baby. It is my baby.” She said with a smile.
“You had a baby? With who?” Pinkie Pie asked, she had millions of thoughts rushing through her head like a waterfall, but much larger.
“No. I, adopted it.” She said, she didn’t really adopt it, but it was close enough.
“Why does it look weird?” She asked looking at him more closely, he stared back at her in confusion.
“He’s not from here, I think he might have come from the other side of that portal, but he didn’t change.” She said, she was not completely sure about this answer but it was her best guess.
“Then we are going to have to throw a welcome to Equestria party! And a birthday party! And a congratulations on having a baby party! And a welcome home party!” Pinkie Pie said, she was thinking about a way to combine all of them into one big party.
“Thank you Pinkie, but I came over here to ask for some baby food.” She said, and she got a happy giggle from the baby in response. 
“Hold on, I’ll go get you some!” Pinkie Pie said, then she ran off and within a second she was back holding 7 containers of baby food. “Is this enough?” She asked.
“That’s great, thank you Pinkie.” She took all of the containers with her magic and went back to her castle. As she walk going back, she was stopped by a quickly breathing Lyra, she usually took strolls early at night but Twilight was still not expecting her. “Hello Lyra, how are you?” She asked smiling.
“Is that a human? How did you get a human?!?” She shouted, she had believed in humans for a long time and twilight had told her that they were real, but she still had never seen one. The baby looked at her in confusion. “Is it wearing a mask?” She asked.
“Yes he is a human, he was left on my doorstep, and he is supposed to wear that mask to hide the scars on his face.” She said. 
“Why does he have scars?” Lyra asked, “Why would anyone harm a baby? Unless it deserved it. Are you sure it is safe?” She asked. She was excited, confused, and scared of the human.
“It is completely safe, why would you think otherwise?” Twilight asked, she felt a bit upset that Lyra would think that a baby could have deserved scars.
“I think you should tell the mayor, then she can decide whether or not it is safe, or weather or not it should stay here.” She said with a small bit of hostility in her voice, she was now more scared of the human then she was curious of it. The baby seemed to be able to tell that there was tension and started to cry a bit. Twilight was angry at Lyra at this point, she was angry that she would think that a baby could be dangerous, and she was angry that Lyra had made the baby cry.
“I think you should leave us alone, you have made this innocent baby cry, and you are accusing it of being dangerous. Not even changelings are dangerous at birth! I’m going back to my castle, and I do not want you to follow me if you are going to tell me that my baby is a threat.” Twilight said, then she continued her way back to her castle. Lyra was still a bit scared of the human and wanted to make sure that it was safe. She then ran as fast as she could to the mayor's office.
Twilight got back to her castle and went to the kitchen, Spike wasn’t there and neither was the soup he was making. She laid out the baby food on a table and got a small spoon. “Ok, now which one do you want?” She asked the baby, he pointed at a random one and giggled happily. She also giggled. “Alright, that one it is!” She said happily, then she sat him down on the table and got the baby food he pointed to. She took off his mask and was again greeted with his scarred face, but she ignored it. She opened up the baby food and put a bit on the spoon then fed it to him. She kept this up until it was all gone. “Oh! I still need to name you don’t I? I can’t just call you a baby or him for the rest of your life.” She thought about how to name a pony, their names usually have something to do with the colour of their mane and fur or the end up being about their cutie mark, but he has neither. She tried to think about a name but then she remembered his note, ‘Don’t take off his mask unless it is to feed him’.  “I know what I’ll name you! I’ll name you Masky.” She said happily, and she got happy laughter in response. “Well, I think we should head to bed now Masky.” Then she put him in the baby carrier and took him upstairs with her to her room. She entered and looked around, she didn’t have a bed that he could sleep in, but she did have some extra pillows and blankets, she went into the other room and got a pillow and a blanket for him, she laid them down on the floor and gently put him on top of them. She wrapped him up in the blanket and smiled at him then went to bed herself. Masky fell asleep almost instantly, but Twilight didn't, it took her a while to get comfortable before she fell asleep.
She woke up the next day to the sound of someone knocking on her door, she got up and saw that Masky was already up, but Spike wasn’t, obviously. She put on the baby carrier and put Masky in it, then she went downstairs to the kitchen. She put Masky on the table and saw his mask on the table. “I forgot to put that back on you didn’t I?” She asked, not expecting a response, then she put his mask back on him and went to open the door. When she did she was greeted by the Mayor and Lyra.
“Hello Twilight, Lyra has told me that you are currently in possession of a possibly dangerous object, is this correct?” The Mayor asked.
“It is not dangerous or an object, it is my child.” Twilight said with a hostile glare towards Lyra on the word child.
“It’s not yours! It’s a human! You probably just found it!” Lyra exclaimed angrily.
“What is she talking about?” The Mayor asked Twilight.
“Come in, I’ll show you, but you can’t get scared or make it cry, it’s only a baby.” She said.
“Alright, I won’t.” Mayor said, then she entered the castle, she admired how big it was until Twilight went into another room, Mayor and Lyra followed and they saw Masky on the table wearing a mask. “What is that, and why is it wearing a mask?” Mayor asked, a bit startled.
“That is Masky, my child. The reason it is wearing a mask is because of this.” She said as she walked over to Masky and took off his mask so that they could see his scars. “He was given to me by someone not from here, his old father did this to him for no reason at all, I found him with the mask on and the note that came with it said to keep his mask on, and it was addressed directly to me.” She said, now hugging Masky.
“Well, if whoever left him wanted to give him to you specifically then I guess you are it’s new guardian. But you have to be able to take care of him.” Mayor said, she was a bit unsure about this, but she knew better than to argue with a princess, and it was obvious that Twilight wanted to keep the child, so she decided to let her.
“What?!?” Lyra shouted, slightly scaring Masky and fully waking up Spike, which was quite a feat. “But that thing could be dangerous! How do you know that is wasn’t sent here to kill us all!?!” She shouted, which upset Masky, Twilight, and Mayor slightly. Then Masky started to cry, which made Twilight furious, and made Mayor angry. 
“You are being completely unreasonable, he is just a baby, and from what I am aware of, a baby could never purposely be a danger to anyone! I also don’t have a good reason to trust you, every year you think up of some new and crazy theory that always ends with everyone dying, and they always turn out to be false, your human theory just so happened to be real, but we have known that for a while since Twilight told us they were real.” Mayor said matter-of-factly.
“Get out of my house, now!” Twilight said angrily and intimately, which scared Lyra and she ran out as fast as she could.
“Well, I think that we should tell the rest of the town about him so that they aren’t scared.” Mayor said.
“Ok.” Twilight said, then she tried to calm down Masky. “Don’t listen to Lyra, you would never do that. I love you too much for you to possibly be dangerous.” She said as she cradled Masky, and he calmed down and was happy again.
“I think he is happy as long as he knows that he is cared for and is loved.” Mayor said.
“Well, at least I know how to calm him down now.” Twilight said, then Mayor smiled at her and left to arrange the town meeting. Twilight put Masky back on the table and got him a cup of baby food. She took off his mask and did the same thing as last night. After he was fed she put him back in the baby carrier and headed back upstairs, but she was interrupted by another knock on the door. She stopped and stared at the door, then she looked at Masky, she was worried that it was someone who would insult him again, but then she thought, ‘If it is then they had better prepare for a rumble.’ Then she went and opened the door and saw her 5 best friends, who all but one gasped, that one was Pinkie Pie.
“What is that!?!” Four of them asked, Pinkie just giggled.
“It’s a human baby that Twilight found on her door and adopted and named Masky because of his mask that he wears to cover up his scars.” She said happily, which made everyone stare at her, even the stallion that was passing by. 
“That’s correct.” Twilight said, and Masky laughed in joy at Pinkie Pie’s knowledge. She sat down in front of him and smiled.
“I think he likes me!” She said happily, and Masky grabbed her nose. They both laughed happily.
“Umm, why did someone give you a baby?” Rainbow Dash asked Twilight.
“Here, this should tell you.” She said, and she gave her the letter that was with Masky, Rainbow Dash landed on the ground and she and the others read the note silently while Pinkie Pie played with the baby. After they read it they all had at least one tear in their eye, Rarity was crying and Pinkie Pie was bawling.
“Why would someone want to harm a baby?” Fluttershy asked quietly.
“I’m not sure, maybe they were just a bad parent.” Twilight said, and after she did Spike came down the staircase holding his blanket. 
“Twilight, what are you doing? Oh! Hey guys, why are you all here?” Spike asked in surprise after seeing the others.
“We were going to ask if Twilight wanted to have a picnic with us at the park, but it would appear that she can’t. Babies are hard work.” Rarity said.
“This one doesn’t ask for much, all he needs is food and to know that he is loved from what I can tell.” Twilight said, and she got a happy giggle from Masky, who was still playing with Pinkie Pie. 
“He could come with us!” Pinkie Pie said happily.
“That’s a good idea!” Twilight said happily, “Come on Spike!”
“Alright.” Spike said sleepily, then he dropped his blanket and went with them as they left the castle. They went to the park and set up the blanket and the basket then started setting food out, Twilight had Spike bring a container of baby food so that Masky could eat if he was hungry.
”So Twilight, what are you planning to do with the baby?” Applejack asked while picking up an apple.
”Well, I`m going to keep him obviously.” Twilight said as she took Masky out of the baby carrier and gently set him down on the blanket. He laughed happily and slowly crawled around the blanket.
“Aren’t you going to tell the princess?” Asked Rarity as she watched Masky crawl around, he crawled very similarly to the way baby ponies crawled, except he didn’t have hooves, or fur.
“Of course I’m going to tell the princess, I only got him last night and I didn’t want to bother her this late at night.” Twilight said, happily watching Masky crawl around, he seemed to be having a great time. She knew that the note said not to remove his mask, but she wanted to see his happy face, she was trying to decide what to do when she was cut out of he thoughts by spike poking her. “What?” She asked in confusion.
“I asked if you are going to tell Celestia today.” Rarity said, and Pinkie pie laid down next to Masky and played with him, making him even more happy.
“Well today Mayor is going to be having a town meeting so that everyone can see Masky, and so they can tell me what they think of him.” Twilight said. She was a bit worried what the rest of the town would think, but she told herself that everyone in the town was kind and accepting, and that they would be happy for her.
“Well I know that I love him, he’s so cute!” Pinkie Pie said as she lifted Masky up, making him laugh even more.
“I think it’s awesome that you have a baby and all, but what about us? Will you have time to hang out with us still?” Rainbow Dash asked sadly, but trying to hide it as best as she could.
“Of course I will still hang out with you all! Just now there will be a baby with me, until he grows up that is.” Twilight said happily. Then she thought about him growing up, what will she do with him once he does? Will he be able to find a special somepony? She quickly pushed these thoughts to the back of her head so that she didn’t freak out in front of Masky.
“What about when there is a friendship problem? Or worse, an attack! Then what will you do with him?” Applejack asked.
“He can come along if there is a friendship problem, he can learn from it, and Spike can take care of him if there is ever an attack, but that probably won’t happen again.” She said confidently, the chances for another attack from Tirek, or Discord, or the Changelings are low.
“You seem to have everything under control.” Rainbow Dash said. They continued to talk to each other and eventually Pinkie Pie stopped paying attention to Masky and started talking with them. He looked around for something new to do and then he saw a bunny hopping over to fluttershy. He made some babbling noises and tried to move towards it, but he was not sure how to crawl yet, so he just patted his hands on the ground, he looked around and saw that no one else had hands. They just had circle things. His mom was closest to him so he turned to her and grabbed her missing hand. Twilight stopped talking and looked down at Masky and smiled. She lifted up her hoof and Masky looked at the bottom of it. Their hands weren’t the same, he put his hand on the bottom of her hoof and seemed confused. Twilight saw him but didn’t know what he was thinking or what it looked like he was thinking because of his mask. 
“Why do you need the mask so bad anyway? It’s not like you will be hurt if you don’t wear it.” Then she took off his mask. His scars were visible to all the world now, and when Twilight's friends saw his face they gasped.
“Oh my! I knew he had scars but I didn’t know that they were as bad as this!”  
Fluttershy said started. The others were startled as well but they didn’t say anything. 
“I know his scars are bad, but He’s not going to be getting any more, I’m going to make sure of that.” Twilight said, then she picked up Masky and gave him a hug, that he returned happily. 
They heard the Town Bell ring, announcing a town meeting, and they all got up, and Twilight put Masky back in the Baby carrier. “Let’s go introduce you to the town!” Twilight said happily, and the others agreed. Then they went down to the town hall, but they didn’t join the crowd outside, they went inside and waited for the mayor to tell Twilight when she was supposed to come out. She was a bit nervous about this, she had been in town meetings before, she’s even hosted a few. Yet this time was different. She wasn’t announcing an award, or telling everyone what has happened in Canterlot recently, no, she was introducing her child. Her human child to the public. She knew that they were accepting and would welcome him into their community just as a new pony, but there was still a voice in the back of her head, agonizing her. Telling her how they might not accept him, that they might be scared, how they might view him as an outcast, or her, or both! She was quickly snapped into reality by Applejack shaking her.
“Sugarcube, are you alright? You seem nervous.” She said, trying to help her friend the best she could, but she forgets her own strength sometimes and realised she might have just scrambled her brains. “Uh, sorry ‘bout that.” She said, letting go of Twilight.
“It’s alright, I’m fine, just a bit concerned that’s all.” She said. 
“Concerned about what? I would be happier thank the baby seems to be right now if I were you.” Rarity said, smiling at Masky, who was looking around at everything. Twilight was going to say something but she was cut off before she could.
“Now that we are all gathered here, I would like to show you what this meeting is about. Twilight, please come out and show the town our newest member!” Mayor Mare said over the speakers.
“Well, here we go.” Twilight said. Then, with Masky in his little carrier, she and her friends came out onto the stage to show the town Masky. Once they saw him, everyone went silent. Not even a bird chirped, for even they were silent and watching from rooftops. “Hello everypony. I am here to show you all the newest member of the town. My baby, Masky.” She said, only to receive more silence, however now there were a few ponies murmuring amongst each other.
“What is it?” One Pony asked.
“It is a human, from a different place, where i don’t know.” She responded, and in response multiple ponies started talking out loud and started asking questions at once.
“What’s a human?”
“How did it get here?”
“Why is it here?”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Does it have a disease?”
“What does it do?” ll of this made Twilight very stressed, and he bent down and tried to hide herself and masky under her hooves, Her friends saw this and Applejack yelled above all,
“EVERYPONY BE QUIET!” She shouted, scaring everyone into silence as requested. “Now ya’ll an ask yer questions one at a time.” she said. After this, Twilight looked out of her hooves and saw they they were all quiet, then she got up and looked around at the ponies, then she saw a light blue pony with a darker blue curly mane and tail holding up his hoof and shaking it frantically.
“Pony raising your hand, I take it you have a question?” she asked.
“Yes I do!” He said cheerfully, looking at the baby in comical awe, “ Why was the baby requested to stay with you specifically?” He asked, and he seemed to have asked a question that multiple others had on their mind, based on their facial expressions.
“Well, where he came from, his father was, unkind to him, very unkind. So the mother took him to me so that he can hopefully live a semi-normal life, and so that I could teach him about friendship.” She said, Masky was busy looking around at all the ponies, there was such a large jumble of bright colours that greatly interested him. Another pony raised her hoof, she was the filly known as Applebloom, Applejack's little sister. “Yes Applebloom?”
“How is it going to go to school? The tables are meant for ponies.” she said.
“Well, I’m sure we will figure out something.” She said with a smile. “ Are there any other questions?” She looked around again and saw a light green hoof rais, which she knew was Lyra’s. “Yes Lyra?”
“Is it dangerous?” he asked with sass obvious in her voice. The question made multiple ponies mumble amongst themselves, but not to loudly as to not anger Applejack again.
“He is only a baby, he can’t be dangerous, and I will raise him to know what is right and wrong, so he will not be dangerous to any of us, I will make sure of that.” She said confidently, which made the ponies calm down, considering that she was a princess, the Princess of Friendship at that. Nopony else raised their hoof to ask a question, so Mayor Mare concluded the meeting,
“With no other questions then I would like for you to all welcome our newest member of Ponyville, Masky Sparkle!” She said, and at that, everyone cheered for Twilight and Masky, and Twilight smiled, Masky did as well, however it was hidden by the mask. Twilight thought it was odd why no one asked why he wore the mask, however she assumed it was because his name was Masky. Suddenly Pinkie Pie pulled out a party cannon and fired it into the crowd, which was a non-verbal way of saying, ‘I’m throwing a party!’.
“I’m throwing a party!” Pinkie Pie shouted, which was not a surprise to anyone. Pinkie ran to Sugarcube corner, however it was more like she teleported, for within a blink of an eye she was there. Most of the ponies followed her, however a few went back home, for it was still fairly early. The Party was a usual Welcome to Ponyville party, however she called it the Welcome to Equestria Party. There was cake, cupcakes, balloons, games, and a few gifts for Masky, all of which were from her, because she had known about Masky as soon as Twilight needed the baby carrier, but how exactly she new about him completely, no one knows, and no one will ever know. Masky absolutely loved the party and enjoyed his share of the cake, he tried to eat a piece with his mask on but it just made a splat and confused him. Twilight giggled and lifted his mask enough to show his mouth so he could eat, he tried again and he was successful, everyone cheered and made him happy. Twilight thought about it and decided to declare today as his birthday. 
“Today shall be Masky’s birthday!” She said happily, then quickly looked at Pinkie Pie, “Not another party, he needs to see the town.” She said, “But we can continue this one.” She said before Pinkie Pie got sad. As they continued the part no one noticed a small Discord looking at Masky in particular from the ceiling.
“Hmm, he is different from a normal life form, I can tell. Now i don’t mean the part about him being a human, but he is, odd. I’ll need to get a closer look, but not now. Later.” He said, he could detect an odd something reflecting off the baby, nothing dangerous, but it was still something.